


Ouroboros

by abysmal_seraph (absymal_seraph)



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Drug Abuse, F/M, Guilt, M/M, Multi, Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 07:29:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absymal_seraph/pseuds/abysmal_seraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six moments in the life of James Rhodes, from the first time he knew he wanted to fly to his first mission as an Avenger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ouroboros

**Author's Note:**

> Putting this up for Rhodey/Pepper/Tony day of the Rhodeycon. I absolutely love this fic. It's probably the only bunny that ever pounced on me knowing exactly what it wanted to be from the start. The working title for this in my head might have been "Rhodey _Really_ Loves Tony and Pepper, Okay?".
> 
> I made up some of Rhodey's family details and the stuff about Tony's drug use because the MCU gives me nothing to work with. I also include events from the Iron Man 3 Prelude comic tie in and a particular 616 comic element. I didn't do much (*coughs* any) research on this 616 element's actual capabilities so I'm hoping the one thing I added isn't too horrible. The term 'queep' is an Air Force term for non-flying duties that I'm hoping I'm not using wrong. Sorry in advance for all of this. 
> 
> I worked with a soundtrack on this, one song for each section even when the song didn't really match up thematically lol. For those curious (mainly because I love it when other people list their song inspirations):
> 
> Sections 1 and 6: [Ludovico Einaudi - Fly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mUuvgGnC4)  
> Section 2: [Daughter - Medicine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrulQAZq7Y8)  
> Section 3: [Of Monsters and Men - Silhouettes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaCCYL7TXLY)  
> Section 4: [Emeli Sandé - My Kind of Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ASG55dj_c)  
> Section 5: Was originally [E.S. Posthumus - Unstoppable](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoaUYcwEpSw) (warning: the image for that video is David holding Goliath's decapitated head) but then the section decided to be smut so I'm going with [Armchair Cynics - Bang](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjUJoL6u9Y)

**i. air**

Jim Rhodes is seven, and he refuses to go higher than two feet while swinging. Tony won't believe it when Jim admits that decades later, laughing as though Jim has told a joke. Jim will let him, won't bother to argue because it really does sound like a lie. Jim Rhodes, ace pilot, the guy people thought should have been born with a set of wings, afraid of a little height.

But there's years to go before that day. Right now Jim is seven and playing with his cousin Julian at the playground closest to home. They're at the swings, Jim's lazy momentum carefully crafted to avoid going too high while Julian furiously seesaws between the backward lean and the kick.

Jim watches as Julian readies himself then launches into the air as the swing reaches its apex. Julian whoops where Jim would shriek, flies feet above the ground with air snapping at his heavy coat. Gravity reasserts itself, dragging Julian back down to earth where he falls in a tangle of limbs, laughter already leaving him in adrenaline-drunk excitement as he clamors to his feet to do it again.

Jim stays firmly, resolutely, on the ground.

That night he dreams of flying. It's awful at first, terror and panic strangling him as he slices through the air with a sense of purpose. It takes awhile to realize there are two of him: the one watching who wants to scream and set foot on something more solid than a cloud, and the one flying who wants to shout in delight like Julian, to twist and twirl and flip through the air like he was weightless. 

The sense of urgency and determination sparking through him keeps Jim from doing either. He's not alone and there's someplace to be, something to do that's more important than his fear or his joy. Jim doesn't know what it is--there's a film over everything, like seeing and feeling through cotton--but he's not alone. He's not safe, but there's something almost like it coursing through him. There are people who will catch him if he falls. 

The him dreaming thinks angels. The him flying swoops right, around something, avoiding something. Jim isn't sure which. Light flashes, and his heart stops, flutters back to life, then pounds like a drum within the span of seconds.

Something smacks into him, hard, knocking him sideways, and he's no longer flying but falling. He's spinning, the ground coming up to greet him at surprising speed. The him watching the dream panics while the him in the dream says a word he's not supposed to use and tries to regain control.

Two sets of arms wrap around him, solid, drag him up and back towards the sky. Safe. 

The emotions that bubble up in him are mostly too fast and strange to recognize. He's thankful, like Mama always taught him he should be, and relieved and maybe a little angry at himself for getting hit at all. There's love for the arms that caught him and the wind whipping passed him when he can fly on his own again, he and his rescuers speeding towards a single goal he still doesn't recognize. 

The dream ends and that love is what sticks to him most, all consuming and instinctual and far too intense for him to understand.

So he equates it with things he can understand at that age, like how he loved Mama and Papa and his threadbare Eeyore, and the mean old dog down the street who doesn't seem to deserve it but needs it anyway.

Years later, Jim meets Tony and is reminded of that dog. Jim isn't so much older that he finds the bite and bitterness in Tony's words disturbing for his age. Tony still acts like a stupid fifteen year old kid, but there's a meanness there that's more protective than ego. He already understands all too well that people are more drawn to his family's money and reputation than any actual interest in him, genius brain be damned. He uses it like a net to ensnare and a knife to cut.

He tries to cut Jim when Jim enters his orbit, drawn by a gravity he doesn't even try to fight. Tony tries to cut, and he fails, because Jim's not interested in the Stark anything that isn't pure Tony.

Tony gets that eventually, gentles as much as someone like him can be. And Jim loves. Loves the stupid nicknames--especially Rhodey--and the brashness and the _awe_ that could still cross Tony's face despite all that genius. Loves Tony the way Jim loves flying: necessary, overwhelming, and as vital to life as breathing.

Jim realizes all too late that this is a horrible idea. He's old enough to be courting a jail sentence just for looking at Tony a certain way, and Jim has things to do, a sky to conquer. A dream he cups in his hands so it can't fly away without him. He can't afford the wrath of angry parents bearing down on him like a hurricane.

But his heart still flutters every time Tony gives him a genuine smile and outright soars at Tony's ridiculous promise to build him wings.

**ii. water**

Tony Stark the playboy and party animal doesn't exist until Jim is twenty-four and the full weight of the responsibilities owed to Stark Industries starts pulling Tony under. Jim watches him drown, helpless and unsure how to help aside from being there as much as the Air Force will allow.

It would have been easier, Jim thinks, if it had crashed down on them all at once. The transformation happening overnight instead of in bits and pieces small enough to ignore or dismiss until it was too late. 

He should have seen it happening, should have caught it all before things got this bad. Should have protested even louder about the people he found himself tripping over when Jim came for visits. He had taken one look at their bloodshot eyes and cocaine-thin frames passed out on any available surface and _known_. Couldn't not have, could he?

But Tony had brushed it off, had always looked tired but fine right up until he didn't, and treating Tony like a child who needed to be protected from himself would be both insulting and push him even further away. Jim knows, intellectually, that he couldn't have done anything but what he had. That no matter how often he scared them away, nothing he did could have stopped Tony from letting his new 'friends' back in the moment Jim's attention was elsewhere. 

The guilt eats away at Jim anyway, tells him he could have done more. It makes him so angry, at himself, at Tony, at Obie who usually catches all the little details but somehow never saw this coming. 

Jim occasionally wonders if things would have been different if he had moved in with Tony instead of going into the Air Force. Maybe, maybe not, but he can't imagine throwing away his dreams and putting his life on hold to play babysitter. He knows it shouldn't make him feel guiltier, but it does anyway. It lurks in the corners of his mind during exercises and all the queep they hurl at him instead of letting him fly, eroding at his confidence until he learns to push it down.

Sometimes, Tony looks at Jim, eyes glazed with alcohol or drugs, like Jim is the most solid thing in the world. It's horrifying because he's not, he's really not, and if he was he'd be able to juggle keeping Tony's head above water and getting his wings.

But Jim's can't help but feel honored too. Tony doesn't look at many people that way. Certainly not his new 'friends' who Tony knows will abandon him once the glamor, booze, and drugs run out. If Jim can credit Tony with one thing it's that he's bleakly aware of the truth.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" Jim asks one night when Tony is mostly sober enough to answer. 

They're on Tony's bed, Jim sitting fully clothed on the edge and Tony tucked half naked under the covers. Jim's further from Tony than he would like, but he has to put some distance between them. Tony smells gross, like sharp perfume and old sweat and too much liquor, but the siren call of his lips is still too much temptation for Jim at times like this.

Tony shrugs, mumbles. "I don't know." 

It sounds sincere enough to break Jim's heart while simultaneously frustrating the hell out of him. If Tony is going to ruin himself, he should at least know _why_.

"I'm not sure I can keep watching you do this," Jim admits, not quite looking at Tony. Jim just doesn't feel that brave right now.

Tony makes a noise, soft and considering. "Really?" he asks, except it's not really a question. The word is too flat to be anything at all.

They lapse into a long silence. Jim still won't look at Tony, can't, so he startles when Tony starts talking again. 

"If I was nearly as smart as everyone says I am, I'd marry you, Rhodey."

Jim finally turns to look at him, answering Tony's alarmingly serious gaze with a watery smile. "Couldn't. It's not legal." 

Tony makes another noise, something indecipherable, and finally falls asleep. By morning, he's forgotten the conversation even happened.

Five years later--after one accidental overdose, three failed stints in rehab, and Jim finally _has_ to distance himself for the sake of his own sanity--Tony learns that burying himself in a project works better than hard drugs but he never lays off the alcohol. Drinking like a fish, he grimly assures Jim, is a time-honored Stark family tradition.

**iii. earth**

Tony isn't dead. Nothing anyone says can make Jim believe that. There's no body, no proof. Just a pile of bullet-riddled soldiers and a smoking Humvee. That's not evidence.

And even if it was, Jim still can't leave without Tony. Unfamiliar desert and shifting sand, an unforgiving sun and cool, cruel moon, these aren't the things Tony deserves in a resting place. He needs California, and Pepper and Jim need a body to bury, a proper place to mourn. He can't go home to Pepper empty handed in the end. It was bad enough having to do it once just to give her the news, the way she didn't even try to put on a strong front because they all deserved better than that right now.

It had been the closest he'd ever been to her, holding her while she cried, face buried in her hair while he cried too and made promises he wasn't sure his superiors would let him keep. Shared grief made Jim ignore the distance he'd carefully cultivated between him and her since the day they'd met, the moment he'd realized she was as necessary to him as Tony was. Jim doesn't know how to put the walls back up, doesn't know how he manages to not tell her he loves her during the brief, static-filled calls they've shared since Tony went missing. They don't have decades of friendship for Jim to hide his meaning under, and Pepper going through enough as it is. They both are.

His superiors keep telling Jim that he has to give up, stop wasting resources. They know Tony's his friend... 

That's where Jim stops listening because they don't know a thing. If DADT wouldn't get him kicked back to the States, he'd shout from the goddamn rooftops what Tony is to him. He'd make every last one of them understand that he's not going anywhere. Instead, he sinks his teeth into the words so they can't escape and wields the power Stark Industries gives him to crush the opposition. He's finally that solid thing Tony always mistook him for. Jim's a rock, and he's not moving. He's a fucking boulder, and he's not going anywhere, but he'll roll right over anyone who gets in his way.

Jim and the people under him follow any lead, no matter how small. When the attack had happened, following the trail from the Humvee had led nowhere but opposition, the people who had killed their soldiers and taken--or killed, _Jesus_ \--Tony long gone under a cover of bullets. Jim had scoured the wreckage for a hint, dug in the shifting sands until grains cut under his fingernails, and hadn't found a thing. They listen to radio chatter now, hoping a careless word will be all they need to find a location. If not to Tony then maybe someone who knows. Or straight to whoever had done this so Jim finally has a target he can shoot at.

Lazarov is the one who hears about the smoke streaking through the the sky, too small to be an aircraft and it doesn't go off like a rocket when it slams to earth. Jim can practically feel the eyes rolling as he scrambles together a team and a helicopter but they don't know Tony like he does. His best friend thrives on smashing expectations.

Jim's not flying--can't stop the shake in his hands that hope has given him, the nagging sense of 'maybe this time, maybe it's over'--so he's not the first one to see the odd shapes in the sand. Metal bulk, strangely man-shaped, _armor_. He gets that before anyone else, laughs in sick, beautiful relief while the others are still puzzling through it. He leaps out the helicopter while it's still feet from the ground, ignores the sand kicking up into his face and eyes because all he sees is Tony alive. 

Jim cracks a joke to keep from saying something stupid and wraps Tony in his arms. Feels the way he breathes and shivers against Jim and the hard press of something on his chest. Jim thinks it might have been whatever that glow was, and the worries start anew. How Tony had survived and what he'd been through, how he'd managed to make a _flying suit of armor_ in the middle of the desert? And that light. The way Tony protects it makes Jim nervous. 

"We found him alive and in one piece. They're looking over him now," he tells Pepper, voice cracking, as the doctors look over Tony. They won't let Jim inside the tent, won't let him be there even though he'd seen the look on his friend's face: animal panic hidden behind stubbornness, hands subtly reaching like he though Jim would disappear once he was out of sight. It was the first time it had occurred to him that Tony might have thought he was dead too, that he'd never gotten to see what had happened to Jim's transport after all hell broke loose.

Over the grainy video, he sees Pepper's hand cover her mouth to muffle her relieved sob, her eyes shining and on him like he'd done something amazing. "Thank you, Jim."

He shakes his head. "I didn't _do_ anything."

"You're bringing him home," Pepper says, that no nonsense strength straining at the syllables. "I need both of you back here now so I can hug you."

Jim nods and they just talk after that, pointless things to sooth their nerves as they wait. Pepper's better at it than he is, stronger. She's the rock, he decides. He just borrowed some of that strength to do what bureaucratic tape and bullshit wouldn't let her.

"Will you still love me if I'm not pretty?" Tony asks in a whisper hours later once the doctors and nurses have left them alone in the medical tent. There's a quirk to his lips, like it's meant to be a joke, but his eyes are dark and haunted. 

"You're always going to be pretty. Prettiest girl at every party," Jim answers. He can't touch the other part of Tony's question, not right now while his emotions are too raw.

Tony gives him a long look then shifts up on the cot. He gently knocks Jim's hands aside when Jim tries to stop him and rakes his sweat and dirt streaked shirt up to his armpits. The light hits Jim in the face without the thin material to muffle it, makes both their skin glows eerily in the muted illumination of the tent. 

It's _in_ Tony, whatever it is. No, Jim recognizes the design from blueprints, excited engineer to engineer chat. "Jesus, you made a mini arc reactor. In a _cave_! Tony!" Jim hisses low, excited and awed at Tony's genius and horrified that the thing is sitting in Tony's chest surrounded by a mass of healing scars.

"Yeah, I'm incredible," Tony casually agrees with a weak smile. There's fear and frustration in his gaze, like he's annoyed that Jim's not getting it and scared of what it will mean when he does. "It's powering an electromagnet. There's shrapnel in my body. This," the reactor makes a dull clank as Tony flicks it, "is keeping it from reaching my heart."

Jim touches it, the edges where metal meets raised flesh. He's careful but not hesitant, unafraid of the damage and the unnaturalness of the reactor's presence. It's keeping Tony alive and that makes it one of the most beautiful things in the world. Something loosens in Tony, makes him sag and lean into Jim's fingers.

"I still love you," Jim says because he can't think of a single thing that would make him stop.

**iv. aether**

Jim has nightmares after the Expo. They're ugly things full of fire and screams, Tony crumpled in his suit and Pepper blown to bits by a detonating droid while Jim stands among the wreckage still locked in the hijacked armor. Jim wakes up more times than he can count sweating and shaking, sick to his stomach and trying to claw his way free from the feeling of being trapped and helpless. He learns to sleep with his cell well out of reach to avoid instinctively calling one of them just to hear their voices.

He has trouble getting back into the Mark II. Jim manages it anyway, animal panic always taking him over for a second before he calms. JARVIS is always silent when that happens, respectfully so, but he isn't nearly as talkative with Jim as he is with Tony. He usually just sits back and waits for the rare moment Jim decides he needs the extra help. Jim suspects--no, _knows_ \--that J.A.R.V.I.S. is playing watchdog for Tony because Tony doesn't even try to hide the little worried looks he gives Jim. 

Their relationship is still strained. How the hell can it not be after Tony couldn't even tell the people who loved him he was dying? Jim's got a lot of issues with that, but he visits anyway. Can't keep himself from a tangible reminder that Tony and Pepper are alive and breathing. 

So Jim is annoyed but not entirely surprised when Tony takes the Mark II away from him as soon as possible.

"I did _not_ set you up to steal this just so it can make you have panic attacks," Tony says, vicious enough that Jim thinks Tony would kill Vanko all over again given the chance.

Jim hums softly under his breath, maybe in agreement, maybe just unimpressed. It's the first time Tony had admitted it out loud but alarm bells had started ringing in Jim's head as soon as J.A.R.V.I.S. had helped him into the Mark II and let him walk away with it that night. He'd guess exactly what was up when Tony actually decided to fight him. They'd never done that, never come to blows no matter how angry they got. Even while drunk and tripping on power, Tony wouldn't hit Jim, wouldn't try to hurt him, unless there was some ulterior motive.

Checking up on Pepper after the fight had all but confirmed it. She'd made him bend down a little so she could kiss his cheek then shooed him off so she could handle the mess.

Jim still wishes Tony had just handed him the damn suit instead.

Tony does it right this time, presents Jim with a new War Machine with weapons that actually do their job. It fits Jim like a glove. He watches Tony watch him, sharp eyes taking in every second of Jim's joy and excitement. He let's Jim hug him then drags him off to his too large bed where Pepper is already waiting. Jim wakes the next morning feeling the best he had since the Expo.

It becomes a habit, Jim sleeping between them whenever all their schedules would allow. He tries to wriggle out of it, suspects he's in the way of the relationship Pepper and Tony are finally starting. They both assure him that he's not, that they haven't even had sex yet and that's okay. That Jim needs them, and that's all that matters. Jim eventually gives in because he's weak and going up against two of the most determined, _stubborn_ people he has ever met.

The nightmares don't completely go away, but they're there when he has them, Pepper's hands and kisses on his temple and cheeks, Tony's arms holding him tight but never making Jim feel trapped. Their voices telling him he's safe, they're safe, until he stops fighting and let's them take care of him.

When Tony and Pepper start to make Stark Tower a reality, Jim takes over the hero business. He has no clue how everyone keeps mistaking him for Iron Man--the subdued paint job should be one hell of a tip off--but he's too busy being fired at to focus on that. A pattern starts to form with each conflict he squashes, nothing really in common but the expensive, military grade weapons the terrorists all carry. All signs point to the Ten Rings, but that's the only clue Jim gets for awhile. They seem to know every move being made against them and plan accordingly.

Jim's in Hong Kong following through on the first viable lead in ages when the Chitauri invade. He's too busy getting himself out of what turns out to be a trap to help Tony when he calls. There's no details, no sense of just what the hell is going down in New York, and Jim's too far away to help. 

Later when he's wishing he could punch Hammer for thinking a tank powered by a nuclear reactor was a good idea, Jim flies his damaged War Machine as fast as he can all the way to New York anyway. He finds dead alien things and a whole lot of damage instead of Tony. The worry takes him instantly, fear that he's too late and Tony's _gone_ , but Jim eventually finds him eating with Captain America of all people. 

Jim slumps into a nearby booth in something like shock and Tony moves over to sit with him so he can fill Jim in on what he missed. He's shaking in the suit by the time Tony is done, just faint enough to not be too obvious, but Tony still sees. Jim can tell. It's in Tony's frown and the way he won't stop looking at Jim.

They get back to the tower, and Tony shows his fellow Avengers where they can rest if they want. He tugs Jim after him the entire time, never quite stops touching him, and leads Jim to the intact penthouse bedroom once Tony's done his proper duty as a host.

They use the emergency releases to get Jim out the suit. He's on Tony in a flash, hugging too tight, face buried in Tony's neck.

"You can't keep doing this to me," Jim says. Sobs, honestly, because he's crying like a baby, hands fisted in the back of Tony's shirt as Tony makes comforting sounds and pets him. It's embarrassing as hell, but Jim can't find the strength to make himself stop.

When he finally calms down, Jim wishes the ground would open up and swallow him. "Sorry. I just--I shouldn't have. You were the one who almost died."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have been the one left behind," Tony says, none of the usual deflection or distractions present. Serious in the hyper-focused way he sometimes got when he didn't feel the need to hide. "For the record, this is how Pepper and I felt every time you deployed."

Jim gives him a brittle smile. "Payback, huh?" he tries to joke, but Tony just shakes his head and drags Jim into bed with him without a word.

Pepper finds them like that sometime later, tangled around each other like children and holding too tight. Her hands are on them both, touching like she's trying to make sure they're real. Her eyes are red rimmed and slightly wild when she meets Jim's gaze.

"I could have lost you both today," she says, and Jim doesn't question how she found out what went down in Hong Kong. "Both my brave, stupid boys."

Tony shifts, obviously awake, but doesn't crack a joke. He's looking at Jim in shock, the downward curve of his mouth saying Tony will get the exact details later. Then Tony sighs and wriggles over in the bed, tugging Jim along with him so there's more room.

"Come on, Pep. Your brave, stupid boys need you."

She doesn't need to be told twice. She curls into them, desperate for contact, hands touching whatever they can reach. It's more intimate than Jim's ever been with her, her fingertips finding the places where his shirt has raked up while his own hand fits into the curve of her waist where he finds Tony's calloused fingers already waiting. Something got broken today, and they're all too scared to pretend that all they feel for each other is friendship.

Jim kisses Pepper first, or maybe it's the other way around. She reels him in, presses their mouths together like it's a foregone conclusion, inevitable in a way he failed to see. She tastes like lipstick and coffee, desperation and hope, and Jim can't seem to get enough. They break apart long enough for Jim to see Tony watching them, hesitant but hungry, like a starving man set before a display and not knowing if he was allowed to take. 

Jim's fingers tighten around Tony's. He gets it, there's two decades of friendship to potentially fuck up here. But they've already gone so far passed the norm, sailed right by it years ago, and Jim doesn't think any of them can go back.

"I'm sorry I couldn't build you wings," Tony says low into the darkness, almost quiet enough to miss.

Jim shakes his head, and presses a long overdue kiss to Tony's closed mouth. "No, it's okay. You gave me something way better."

**v. fire**

Pepper's eyes are glowing. She tries to hide it, shift her gaze and turn her head just so. But her skin's faintly glowing too, brightest where the flesh is thinnest and where the more important arteries are located. She's all lit up inside, and it turns her hair to pale light, strands of fire Jim itches to touch.

Tony might have stabilized Extremis but undoing it completely is a much harder task. Pepper's growing slowly used to her new abilities but there are still mood swings, moments of intense aggression and moments like this.

'This' is Pepper's hands on him, hot to the touch, pushing him back so she can ride him at her own, hard pace. 'This' is Tony behind her, straddling Jim's thighs so his cock nudges against Jim's balls, his hands cupping Pepper's breasts as he mutters filthy things at them both.

Jim can take or leave the angry flareups--they're almost never directed at the people Pepper loves, anyway--but he's definitely liking the ridiculous amount of marathon sex that's been happening. 

Tony's hands slide down Pepper's sides, her hips, to slip to the place where she and Jim are connected. He flicks his thumb over her clit, runs a finger along the exposed areas of Jim's cock when Pepper shifts up.

She looks gorgeous like this, bright and glowing and in charge. A good sort of otherworldly. Heat radiates off her in waves, and it's even more intense inside her even through the condom. Her fingers are hot points on Jim's skin, bearing down hard enough to leave bruises that she'll be sorry for later, but Tony will worship them with his mouth and Jim will treasure each mark. 

There's no regret now though, as she leaves them on his chest and arms, around his wrists when he tries to move his hands to her hips. She shifts forward to pin Jim's arms down, glances behind her to share a look with Tony. He groans, moves, and Jim lets out a long, low whine as Tony pushes in beside him. Pepper moans against Jim's mouth and squeezes around them, controls the shift of them inside her with ease. 

"If you come before I do," she says, lips brushing Jim's as she speaks, "you owe me your mouth."

Jim nods when she backs up, not even caring at how eager he must look. Pepper tastes different when Extremis is riding her, hotter against his tongue, wilder somehow. 

"Jesus, Pep, you can't say things like that and expect us to hold out," Tony complains. He's got better leverage to move with Pepper and does so with enthusiasm, rubbing hard along Jim the entire time. 

Pepper's smile is sweet. "I expect to get exactly what I want," she says, the heat in her voice belying her expression beautifully. She grabs Tony's hands, moves them off her hips and to Jim's waist where they explore the play of muscles. "Make him come, Tony."

Jim bucks, groans out a soft 'not fair' as Tony twists so he can reach Jim's balls, rolling them before slipping back further to find Jim's opening. Tony's fingers are dry so he doesn't push in, just threatens to, fingertips pressing there with almost enough force then edging away when Jim tries to push down on them. 

Jim growls at him, tries to chase Tony down even as he clenches down on the heat in his stomach, but Pepper's not giving him the leverage. He flops back, frustrated at being trapped but loving it too.

"Why ya fighting?" Tony asks, smirking slightly as he pins Jim with that sharp gaze. He likes watching them come apart, likes exploring and memorizing just what it takes to break them down. "Don't you want to put your mouth to better uses? Lick us both as I fuck her?"

"Latex tastes nasty, you asshole," Jim says without any real heat. A fingers pushes into him, little more than a tease but it sets his nerves on fire. He loves that initial breach, the feeling of being opened up. 

"I promise I'll give you something nicer to suck on later," Tony says as Pepper laughs. 

Pepper kisses him, bites at his lips as Jim ruts restlessly into her and back on Tony's finger. "Just come, Jim," she orders as three fingers press against his entrance like the best sort of threat.

He does with a curse. The pair of them grin down at him like demons as Pepper rides him through it. They're freaking evil, but Jim's pretty sure that's part of why he loves them.

They move off him once he's had time to come down, Pepper never quite letting Tony fully withdraw as they go and Jim shaking off the post orgasm lethargy to see just how loud he can make them both moan.

Later, when they're all sore and properly fucked out, Pepper gets to be the smallest spoon. It's not her preferred position--she'd much rather wrap around Tony or Jim, a leg finding its way between theirs--but it's the only one that ensures she won't hurt them before she's fully awake if she has a nightmare. Jim reaches around Tony to rub at her side, face buried in Tony's neck as his mind slowly winds through the things they need to do tomorrow.

Somewhere in the floor below them are Dr. Banner and Dr. Ross, called in to help Tony figure out what can be done about Extremis. In the workshop, Dum-E and U are still slowly being fixed. There's also a new Iron Man suit in the works, Pepper-approved, and Jim's War Machine waiting to be returned to its former glory. Then there's the third suit, smaller than theirs and built for defense rather than offense. Jim and Tony are going to wait until that one's finished before telling Pepper. Jim hopes she likes the surprise.

**vi. air**

Jim nearly has a heart attack the first time he sees 'Assemble' flash on his cell screen. He's nervous about going on a mission in a way he hasn't been in years. It's stupid, honestly. He's not starstruck by Steve anymore--but Jim likes him--or scared of Bruce and Hulk--Jim likes them too, especially after Hulk smashed the Ten Rings asshole who tried to take out the Tower with a helicopter--and Thor's got the whole space god thing going on, but he's pretty down to earth.

Pepper's just as nervous, but she gets a pass. It _is_ her first mission. Her helmet keeps glancing over Jim or Tony's way, but she flies beautifully, as natural as breathing. Her suit Rescue is for exactly what the name implies, helping people rather than fighting, and they're definitely going to need her today. If she needs to bring the noise, she'd be better off outside the suit where Extremis can do its thing without testing Rescue's structural limits.

They're almost to their destination when Jim gets hits by something between deja vu and a hangover from hell. It's gone within seconds, leaving him a little dizzy and off balance. He doesn't have time to ask if he's the only one who felt it. By now, they're close enough to hear the screaming. 

The rest of the team is already on location when they arrive. It's like something straight out of a nightmare. Buildings are on fire and threatening to collapse, people are running around in a panic. There are freaking tentacles coming out of the ground, huge and scaly and attacking everything that comes into reach. They seem to take a natural affinity to Tony. Jim's going to pick at him about that later when downtown Chicago isn't going to hell. 

There's a large mass of tentacles in the middle of the whole mess, forming a protective ball big enough to hold Hulk. Jim goes with the natural assumption that whoever's responsible for the attack is there. The team's fighting they're way towards it, helping as many people as they can along the way but it's slowing down their already snail's pace progress. 

Nerves or not, Pepper moves instinctively, taking over as much of the rescue effort as she can. The tentacles don't like the electrical pulses she sends out, meant to restart hearts but the suit has more than enough power to allow her quite a few amplified blasts. They're wary of her or maybe they're just concentrating more effort on keeping the rest of the team back. Which ever it is, it makes Pepper's job a lot easier to not constantly be dodging wild swings. 

Black Widow and Hawkeye reach the ball first, Jim and the others busy lopping off tentacles so they can get through. An arrow goes flying, its thick, cylindrical tip burying in one of the nooks where the tentacles meet. It explodes a second later, sending smoke and chunks of scaly flesh everywhere. The mass shudders, tentacles spiraling away from each other to crush Black Widow and Hawkeye but they're already gone, started moving the moment the arrow landed. 

It leaves a huge gap in ball, large enough to easily see inside once the smoke clears.

There's a kid, strangely dressed, fifteen or sixteen with a wide, dead eye stare. Jim suspects she's the one doing it, but there's a man behind her, unnaturally tall and thin, head bent close as though he'd been whispering to her before being interrupted. Awareness filters into the girl's gaze during the moment of distraction, makes her come alive again, but it's gone a second later.

"We've got our target," Cap says over the comm as he avoids one of the writhing tentacles. "We need to take him down without hurting the kid."

Normally, that would be a job for Jim or Tony but their target seems to know that. He aims at them, hurling light from his hands. They instinctively dodge, a good thing considering the sort of damage those projectiles do to the buildings behind the pair. 

Jim swoops right around a tentacle, narrowly avoiding its grasp. Light flashes, and his heart stops in surprise at how close that was, flutters back to life, then pounds like a drum within the span of seconds. 

A tentacle smacks into him, hard, knocking him sideways, and he falls. He's spinning, the ground coming up to greet him at surprising speed as he curses and attempts to regain control. 

Two sets of arms wrap around him, solid, Pepper and Tony dragging him up and back towards the sky. The annoyance he feels at being hit is overshadowed by a flash of gratitude and love as they release him, Pepper heading back to help stragglers as Jim and Tony get back into the fray.

Hulk's using himself as a shield, taking the brunt of the blasts between wrestling with tentacles. He hisses, growls when the blows land, powerful enough to make even him hurt. The thin man is starting to panic, mouth moving a mile a minute as he whispers as at the girl. She frowns a little, brow knitting, light filtering back into her dark eyes. The tentacles try to close back up into a ball, but Thor keeps smacking them out of the way, frying a few in a nastier version of Pepper's electric pulses. 

Suddenly, one of the tentacles twist down into the hole, wrapping around the thin man and tossing him. The girl watches him fly with bright, angry eyes, her whole frame shaking with rage. The thin man lurched mid air, darts from Black Widow's Stingers finding their mark before he can hurl more light projectiles. He lands in a crumpled heap, breathing obvious enough to prove he's alive. No one's in a hurry to see if he's injured.

They see to the girl. Thor's the only one who can understand her, the language she use apparently not even human. Thor doesn't know exactly what she is aside from angry, scared, and wanting her mother, but she naturally latches on to him, and he promises to stay with her when S.H.I.E.L.D. predictably comes in to piece the situation together. The words 'bends in reality' pass Thor's lips as he's translating, and that's Jim's cue to bow out for the rest of the conversation. He's had about enough for today.

Pepper's watching the girl, visor up so Jim can see her expression shifting back and forth between worried and proud. 

"How's it feel to have your superhero cherry popped?" Tony asks her. Jim rolls his eyes at the phrasing, but he wants to know the answer too.

"I couldn't save everyone," Pepper says, hands briefly clenching, eyes glowing before flickering back to normal. "But I helped the ones I could. That felt good. What now?"

"We celebrate! Unhealthy comfort food for everyone!" Tony cries, popping his visor. He catches Pepper up and tugs her into an awkward kiss. 

Jim laughs at them because the suits really weren't built for make out sessions, but then Tony's mouth is on him. He thinks he hears Hulk's knowing chuckle and Cap's small noise of surprise. He definitely hears the click of cameras as Tony pushes Jim towards Pepper so they can kiss too, reporters braving the war zone to be the first to bring in the story.

Oh, tomorrow's going to be _fun_. Grinning against Pepper's mouth, Jim realizes he's actually looking forward to it.


End file.
